


Laughter is the Best Medicine

by Bookworm700



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Cute, Depressed Sam, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Impala, Paranoia, Post-Purgatory, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Season/Series 08
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-24
Updated: 2016-10-24
Packaged: 2018-08-24 09:01:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8366281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bookworm700/pseuds/Bookworm700
Summary: It started out as a random thought. He wasn’t really sure where it came from, it was just suddenly there, in the forefront of his mind. When was the last time I laughed? Really laughed?





	

**Author's Note:**

> This grew out of a random thought I had about laughter. There's much more dialouge than I wanted.... Sam and Dean were just so chatty.  
> This is unbetaed, so if you see any mistakes, please let me know.

It started out as a random thought. He wasn’t really sure where it came from, it was just suddenly there, in the forefront of his mind. **_When was the last time I laughed? Really laughed?_**  
It grew from there, the seed had been planted. It started by growing roots. The thought began to pop up, again and again. Then it shot out of the ground, developing leaves and vines. **_When was the last time Dean laughed? Or Cas? Has Cas ever laughed?_**  
Some of those were easy to answer, it just took a little bit of reminiscing about the past. It wasn’t always a pretty outcome though. He could probably count the time he had seen Dean or Cas truly laugh on one hand.  
But the thoughts didn’t stop there. On and on the thoughts went, stretching farther and farther.  
**_How many times have I ever truly laughed in my life? Probably more than Dean, because of my years at Stanford…_**  
 ** _Did I ever hear Bobby laugh?_**  
 ** _Did I ever hear Dad laugh?_**  
It became a mission after that. To get Dean, Cas, and himself to laugh. After all, there were so many dark times in their lives, they needed a few happy moments to keep them sane. And there were health benefits. Laughter relaxes the whole body. Laughter boosts the immune system. Laughter decreases stress hormones and increases immune cells and infection-fighting antibodies, thus improving your resistance to disease. Laughter triggers the release of endorphins, the body’s natural feel-good chemicals. Endorphins promote an overall sense of well-being and can even temporarily relieve pain. Laughter protects the heart. So why shouldn’t he try to get them all to laugh more? It was in no way going to be easy, but he was Sam Winchester, he’d helped prevent the apocalypse and so much more, this couldn’t be that hard compared to that…

**_Scratch that. This is going to be harder than I thought._**  
The few times he had really seen Dean laugh had been when they’d been pranking each other. He’d hoped that after a prank or two, Dean would start retaliating. But Dean hadn’t, so Sam had been the only one laughing. Why wasn’t Dean retaliating? It didn’t make sense. Not only that, but instead of appreciating the humor and only acting disgruntled, Dean seemed genuinely annoyed.  
He needed to come up with new ideas to make Dean laugh.

Nothing really seemed to be working. Pranks didn’t work. He’d told jokes. All he’d gotten was a slight huff from Dean. Cas, of course, hadn’t understood and he had to be explained the joke, which defeated the point. Puns had backfired spectacularly. Dean had just started to glare at time after the fourth or fifth pun. Self-deprecating jokes had been hard to tell, and they had caused Dean to become worried and overly concerned. As much as Dean supposedly hated heart to hearts and chick flick moments, he’d tried to sit Sam down and try to encourage him. It was nice, but not what Sam wanted. He’d wanted Dean to laugh, not become a mother hen.  
Sam was running out of ideas. He’d even caved and tried some of Wiki How’s suggestions. Dean had immediately begun to test Sam to see if he had been possessed or been a monster as soon as he tried Slapstick comedy or making funny faces. The guy was really paranoid. It made sense, but couldn’t he relax a little and have some fun and laugh? Was it too much to ask?  
Apparently it was, because after 3 months of trying to make Dean laugh, he had nothing to show for it. He had given up on making Cas laugh and had focused on Dean once he had realized just how hard it was going to be.  
Hell, he’d gotten so desperate, that he’d just been printing out funny memes and stories and putting them where Dean would see. Baby’s steering wheel, in his duffle, the door to the motel room, just anywhere Dean would see it.  
It was looking rather glum for him. 3 months of effort and making a fool out of himself with nothing to show for it. **_But that’s how it always goes, doesn’t it? He tried and he failed. He always messed up. Ruby and Lilith. His soulless period. Getting Benny killed. On and on the list went._ _This was something new to add to the list of failures. Not being able to get Dean to relax and laugh. Not making Dean happy for a short period of time._**  
 ** _It was time to give up. Mission failure. Should he really have expected anything else?_**

 

Sam had moped a bit the first couple days, not that he would admit it. It had taken him some time to get over his most recent failure, but he was over it now. Dean had started giving Sam contemplative looks, not that Sam had really noticed, too wrapped up in his failure.  
About two weeks after Sam had given up, Dean started acting a little antsy. He kept opening his mouth, about to say something, then he’s snap his mouth shut and walk away, using whatever excuse he could think of at the moment.  
It took another week before Dean finally managed to say what was bothering him. It had been after a supposedly simple salt and burn. **_Why can't we ever have a simple salt and burns these days?_** There was always something that make each case unique or more difficult to handle. There was no such things as a simple salt and burn anymore.  
After the hunt, Dean drove to a burger place. Sam predictably grumbled about the grease and Dean retorted that he didn’t want rabbit food. Typical Winchester brotherly banter. But tonight wasn’t exactly typical. As they finished up their meals, Dean looked at Sam and spoke.  
“Look, I get it now, what you were trying to do about a month ago. You were trying to cheer me up, but Purgatory wasn’t that bad Sam.”  
“You think I was trying to cheer you up about Purgatory? No, Dean, that wasn’t what it was about.”  
“Then what was it about then, Sammy? Cause I’m wracking my brain and I can’t think of anything else that’s happened recently to make you think I need a bunch of pranks and other stuff.”  
“I- It’s stupid Dean. It’s not really that important. Just drop it.”  
At this point, their discussion had grabbed the attention of the other customers, so Sam got up and left, leaving his half-finished salad behind.  
He hadn’t accomplished his goal, he was a failure. So there was no point in bringing it up again.  
He stopped by the Impala and leaned against the side of the car. He’d just have to suffer through the car ride to the motel for the night, then hope that Dean would forget all about it.  
His hopes were in vain though, because after Dean came and started the drive back, Dean tried to continue the conversation from earlier.  
“I can’t just drop it Sam. Not talking about things normally ends up badly for us. So will you just tell me? What were you trying to do, if you weren’t trying to cheer me up?”  
“It doesn’t matter Dean.”  
“Come on Sammy, just tell me.”  
“No.”  
“Sam.”  
“No.”  
“Is it that bad?”   
“What? No!”  
“Then why won’t you tell me?”  
“Because.”  
“Because?”  
“Because it’s stupid!”  
“Hey, we’ve seen and done a lot of weird stuff Sammy. I’m not going to laugh at you.”  
“I wish you would.”  
“What?”  
“Never mind Dean.”  
Silence permeated through the car as Dean thought about what Sam had said. Luckily, they’d arrived at the motel, so Sam hurried out of the car and went inside. All he needed to do was ignore Dean and go to bed. But why was he so embarrassed about it? Yeah, he’d failed. He’d gotten over that. Probably. Now that he thought about it, it was kind of weird that he’d tried to get his brother to laugh for 3 months. **_Who does_ _that?_ _Probably not well adjusted normal people._** But the Winchesters had never been normal. Stanford had showed him that. Amelia had shown him that. There had been such a distinction between his life on the road and as a Hunter-in-Training and normal people’s lives.  
It was best not to dwell on his life, and its difficulties. That only made him bitter and upset about what he had lost and what little choice he’d had in the matter. Time to just sleep and let everything fall away. For today at least.

 

It was another two days before Dean managed to corner Sam again to continue their… discussion. Sam had been managing with going on runs, getting food, going to the library, and pretending to sleep in the car while Dean drove. But apparently, Dean was having none of it today. After about an hour into Sam’s ‘nap’ he was jostled by Dean till he had no choice but to wake up.  
“What Dean?” he asked sleepily, pretending to have just woken up.  
“Cut the crap Sam. I know you weren’t sleeping. You weren’t breathing deep enough.” Sam just grumbled in reply.  
“Anyway. I’ve been thinking.”  
“About what, Dean?”  
“What you said a couple days ago.”  
“Not that again Dean. I told you to drop it.”  
“We never finished our conversation, Sammy. Besides. You said something real interesting at the end there.” Sam stayed silent as he stared out the window of the car.  
“You said that you’d wish that I’d laugh at you.” Sam remained silent.  
“That kept bugging me, Sam. Why would you want me to laugh at you?” Sam squirmed, face tightening as he refused to answer.  
“If you don’t answer, I’m just going to start throwing my ideas out there.” Sam glared at Dean, then resumed looking out the window.  
“Alright. Here goes. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. You’re trying to cheer me up. From what, I don’t know. Uh, you’re trying to act all cute and young again, to remind us of the easier day. You’re…. Oh god, please don’t tell me it’s a kinky thing, and you get off on-.”  
“WHAT?! NO! How could you even suggest that?!”  
“I don’t know man, there’s some weird shit out there. You could be in to it.”  
“I can’t believe we’re having this conversation.”  
“Then just tell me what’s going on Sam.”  
“Why does it matter Dean?” Dean was silent after that. He just stared straight ahead at the road, unblinkingly. After a few moments, he finally broke his silence.  
“Because. You’re my little brother.”  
“That’s a great reason.” Sam retorted sarcastically.  
“Fine. How about that you’re family? I care when you’re acting like something is wrong or when you’re acting off! Did you think I wouldn’t notice that you were acting strange?”  
“Dude, it was obvious that you noticed, otherwise you wouldn’t have cut me with silver or splashed holy water on me.”  
“I don’t get why this is so hard. Just tell me Sam!”  
“Fine! You really want to know? I wanted you to laugh!”  
“You’ve already mentioned that Sammy. I already knew that.”  
“That’s why I was doing all of those things Dean. I wanted you to laugh, to really laugh. Like head thrown back, laughing so hard you cry.” There was silence in the car.  
“You… wanted me to… laugh?”  
“Yes Dean. I can count on my hand how many times I’ve truly seen you laugh.” Once again, there was silence. Sam stole a glance at Dean. He was swallowing and blinking a lot.  
“Are you okay?” Sam asked hesitantly.  
“I-Yeah. I’m fine.” Dean croaked. He certainly didn’t sound fine.  
“Dean?” Sam leaned closer, and noticed the glimmer of water gathering at the corners of Dean’s eye.  
“Are you crying?”  
“No! Of course not. It’s, uh, allergies of something.”  
“Right. Sure.” Sam said skeptically. They were silent the rest of the car ride.

 

 

The next morning, Sam woke up. He got up and went to go shower like usual. Nothing out of the ordinary. But when he turned on the shower, red, sticky liquid poured out of the shower head. Sam jumped back, cursing. It wasn’t blood, it was far too bright for that. It was… Kool-Aid?  
It must have been Dean. Who else would prank him like that? He then got dressed, or at least he tried to. All of his clothes seemed too small. His plaid shirt split along the seams due to his biceps. Dean. Dean must have done something.  
Grumbling, he came out of the bathroom. Dean looked at the split clothes and snickered. Well. Dean was pranking him. 3 months late, but oh well. He wasn’t even really laughing though. Close enough though. Sam couldn’t help the faint smile though.  
“Very funny Dean. Haha.” He said, trying to sound annoyed. Dean just looked at him and grinned.  
Sam grabbed new clothes out of his duffle. They were all too small.  
“Dean. Where are my clothes.” Dean pointed to the cabinet drawers. Sam pulled out his clothes from the cabinet and put them on. They fit. He then went to his computer. He opened it up. His screen was upside down. Sam turned and gave Dean his best bitchface.  
“Dean. What else did you do to my computer?”  
“I don’t know Sam, why don’t you find out?” Sam turned back to his computer. The mouse wasn’t there, instead it was the rotating blue circle that meant the computer was thinking. Thinking about what though? He hadn’t told the computer to do anything yet. He glanced suspiciously at Dean before the moved the mouse to the search bar. He could probably google what was going on and fix it all. But that mouse wasn’t working properly. Every time he right clicked, nothing happened. He tried left clicking. Finally he got somewhere. Dean had somehow switched the controls for the clicks so they were opposite now. He turned to glare at Dean some more.  
Dean couldn’t help it at this point. He started laughing. And laughing. He didn’t stop. The glare melted off Sam’s face. Dean looked… so much younger and happier. He felt his mouth twitch, and before he knew it, he was laughing along with Dean. Dean’s laughter was really infectious.


End file.
